My Digital Footprint

Digital Footprint - the thing that defines your online presence and what represents you when you search your name online.

So what's mine like?

Awful.

For some reason growing up my parents didn't think it was important to inform me of how my personality can affect me? So thirteen year old Charlotte did an amazing job at creating what I believe is to be an embarrassingly cringy representation.

Growing up I had dreams - I seemed to think the internet would make these come true if I made a blog about it or made a website dedicated to these dreams - at the unexperienced and untalented age at thirteen.

As I searched my name I found old social medias (I wasn't even old enough to use these websites according the the terms and conditions!), websites of failed projects and a large record of embarrassing youtube content. It's slightly more forgivable as I was a young child trying to "make a living", however I doubt future employers would give me the benefit of the doubt.

Even though deleting something won't completely remove it from the internet, I removed as much of the content as I could. I wanted to start a fresh new slate and I knew I didn't want employers searching my name to find youtube videos of a small child scream sining songs from the 2000s.  

I'm glad I started this blog now! Maybe it will help me to build my digital footprint back up to processional standards!

My Goals

Currently, I have a massive amount of personal goals that I would love to achieve within the media industry.

But how do I achieve these?

There's always going to be a journey - I don't expect to start at the tip of the ladder, I'm fully aware I need to start at the button but how do I get my grip on the first step?

My main goal that I'm going to research into achieving is my dream job - being a full time producer of a variety of films and TV series. Luckily for me I've known for a long time what role I would like to partake in when I finally join the industry, so I have already got my grip on the first step of the ladder by attending university to grow my skills.

However, I haven't gave it much thought to what come nexts after university, I haven't even planned for what comes next despite being into my second year!

So how could I potentially achieve my goal and become a producer? Well, a lovely online guide written by Amy Clark Films (2019) details a few fews on how to advance in the movie producer career. By going through this side I have realised that I have personally already completed a few of these tasks, such as studying a course or degree, producing short films, understanding the various roles of a producer. This grows my confidence as I have already achieved a variety of these steps.

However, by researching further I found a more official website - National Careers Service-GOV.uk (2019), which is extremely helpful. It details statistics such as pay, potential working hours and unconventional working conditions - such as working bank holidays or away from home. There as also a variety of links provided that offer more information or offer opportunities for jobs or apprenticeship for young people who want to start in the media. I'm slightly anxious to join the industry as there has always been a supposed bias against women - an article by The Atlantic: The Brutal Math of Gender Inequality in Hollywood details some of the statistics against women. One shocking figure: "In 2017, women comprised 18 percent of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the top 250 domestic grossing films" Which is pretty scary when that was only 3 years ago! Is the industry going to change and allow me to show my potential? I won't know unless I get there...

So what have I learned?

From my understanding I need to work extremely hard if I want to achieve my goal of being a producer for a decent company. But how am I going to do this? Experience. I need to start producing more projects on the side, applying for work experience and possibly offering my services to friends or free lance projects. So now with these next steps in mind, I can work expressly hard to make sure I advance.

Series Analysis

BoJack Horseman.

This is currently my absolute favourite TV series produced by Netflix, as it is a brilliant representation for mental health, and shows an amazing range of character and story developments throughout all six series!

I was really interested in how the series was produced - who knows, maybe I could end up producing similar content!

I started looking at Lisa Hanawalt's personal blog where she details how she produced content for BoJack Horseman. Her artwork is beautiful and it's amazing to see the concept art that was designed before the series was officially launched and created.

There was also this article by Vox which details more about a singular episode that took extreme amount of effort to produce. They also mention how this episode was inspired by Loony Toons!

                       
via GIPHY

Being able to study and read the creative choices behind one of my favourite series' is amazing. It so interesting to grow my knowledge on the behind the scenes! It gets me super excited for my potential career and future within producing!

Where I am Currently

During my time living on this Earth, I have progressed greatly and taught myself skills, as well as learning from others. Even though I had a rough start when I first enrolled in school as I'm not what many people would consider "academically smart", I have always thrived within the creative subjects such as Art, English and Music.

So what have I been doing with these skills, and where am I currently?

Well, since being at university I have been more actively involved within production that is similar to the "industry standard" level, just on a lower budget and less experience. I've just finished filming a fictional piece, and creating an app for a factual piece! Luckily for me I smashed my factual, however I am still waiting anxiously for my fictional grade.

Currently I am in second year, and as of writing this I am trying to find potential internships. I've been quite lucky and I've had success with many interviews!

However, the next struggle is choosing the internship that would suit me best. I believe the best position for me (bare in mind I want to be a producer), would be to shower a producer, or project manager as those two roles are what I enjoy doing! A few of the roles I've applied for will give me these opportunities - but then i have to decide do I want quantity (such as a big brand), or quality (working for a small company in my dream role)?

I guess I'll have to see how things advance.

My Strengths

This area of the blog will be dedicated to discussing four of what I believe to be my strengths, and how they could benefit my personal growth within the industry. The following are what I consider to be strengths:

1. Passion 
2. Positivity 
3. Wild Imagination 
4. Strong Connections 

While these come across as somewhat generic for somebody to say, I would argue that these are key additions to my personality as they all shape who I am in their own way. There are so many more that I could consider as strengths, however I believe these four are the ones that have allowed me to progress within the media industry, as well as life in general.


1. Passion:

I've had a massive love for media, and I love every second I spend studying or creating, so how does this benefit me within the industry I hope to work with?

Job Satisfaction. There are theories swirling around about if an employee who enjoys their work, is more likely to preform better for the organisation they work with as "satisfied employees tend to be more committed, creative, and more productive to their organisations." (I. Dugguh and Dennis, 2014) This suggests that passion could play a huge role within the work industry - if you're loving what you're doing and wanting to do it, then are you even working? If you enjoy what you're doing then a larger level of success will come of it, as you find yourself wanting to work harder and go above what is expected of you.

So, this means that by maintaining my high levels of passion, I have potential to creatively excel within the media industry as I will have a passion for my job, and I will want to work harder to make myself even more satisfied with my job.


2. Positivity:

I like to think that I am an overly positive person. Growing up I have always followed by my mother's famous phrase "There are always two positives to even negative". Sometimes this rule didn't seem possible - especially when things were getting tough, but I would always look for the light. This has helped me greatly so far, but how could it help in the future?

Positivity is essentially a fuel to me - if I remain positive I can keep my sanity and look for solutions, as well as motivate the people around me. This would be extremely useful if the industry if something goes wrong, or if there is low moral on set. Positivity can quickly boost spirits and assure the team that there will always be a way as long as you keep positive and work hard.

3. Wild Imagination:

My imagine is probably one of the craziest things I have came across. There is no hiding some of the absurd things I imagine on a daily basis. This can be extremely distracting as its so easy to drift off and get lost into my imagination! But despite this, it also means I have a huge bank of imaginative ideas that I could use for my future career.

A big imagination allows me to picture projects and ideas with more ease, as well as give me an extremely clear vision for how I would like a project to go. This could potentially lead to originality, however I believe originality is hard to achieve as there is a high demand since there are a lot of films that follow genre stereotypes and is essentially the same story told with different context. There are also so many people in this world who could potentially be thinking of similar ideas.

4. Strong Connections:

Within my short 19 years of life, I like to think I've made quite a few connections - some of which will be extremely useful when I get into the industry. Coming to university has really opened up a new world of people I can connect with - I've met a large variety of people with different skills sets that could benefit me if I were to work with them.

I've already got an ideal team of people who I would love to help aid me with my graduation project, when it comes time to create that. 

I am yet to gain work experience within the industry, but I imagine due to a few of my previous strengths, I will be able to grow my connections within that organisation. The larger the connections you have, the easier it is when you are looking for work as a free lancer, or if I am looking for a team to produce one of my projects for me. 

Overall these are my most notable strengths, and I know they will greatly benefit my future.

About Me

Charlotte Bancroft

I am a nineteen year old student at Bournemouth University, and I am currently studying my passion - Media Production. Not only have I created this blog as part of my course, I have created this blog so I can have my own professional "voice" within the media, and enlighten myself on a variety of topics!

I like to consider myself a "producer in training", as I am still learning the ins and outs of becoming a producer, which is my ideal job for when I leave university and join the industry.

So where did my story start?

It started when I went on a trip with my local Brownies - Girl Guide Group to BBC Bristol as part of Children in Need, to learn the behind the scenes. I clearly remember one of the male staff members explaining how sound effects are created! He then proceeded to pick up a lettuce and crush it between his two hands. Crack. It was that moment that nine year old me was fascinated, and thus dreamed of working for the BBC to create a variety of projects.

At thirteen I chose to study GCSE Media Studies and create small individual projects, which I then continued as an A Level until I was eighteen. At eighteen I achieved an unconditional offer into Bournemouth University where now, at the age of nineteen, I have created a variety of projects, pursued my own hobbies and creative projects. I'm even going through the process of hunting for internships or potential jobs!

I'm not even a quarter of the way through my life, and I personally feel like I have achieved so much! I can't wait to continue learning, growing and actively trying to achieve the dream that I had when I was nine.

Hello!

Welcome to my blog! This blog has been created for the purpose of fulfilling one of my university units, as well as for my own personal growth and gain - as I will be attempting to create my "footprint" within the internet.


Below are a few links to a few other of my socials - feel free to click the images to check them out!

LinkedIn - I frequently use LinkedIn to connect with my other professional peers within the industry, as well as keeping up with companies that may be offering jobs and exciting opportunities.

Instagram - My Instagram is my photography portfolio - it highlights my growth and skill development over time as I try different shoots, and different creative ideas. 

Website - My own personal website which I designed and created myself with my own personal graphic designs. My website details other projects, and walkthroughs.